US pork plant banned by Russia

Recently Russia has placed a ban on meat plants of which the latest is The Farmland plant in Crete, Nebraska.

The Crete plant will no longer be able to ship pork to Russia, with the ban starting as of today - 5 January. The ban announcement has been made by the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).

Quality problems

Quality problems have been cited by Russia as part of the cause of the ban. According to a US livestock consultant in a rebuttal, John Harrington, Russia’s ban was urged on by the fact that the country wants to be self-sufficient in meat production and be admitted to the World Trade Organization.

Salmonella
Reports state that a FSIS representative said that salmonella had been discovered in pork jowls exported to Russia by Farmland. However, Harrington said that the Russian concerns about quality problems with individual plants are likely more about politics than food.

Russian market closed to all US pork

Farmland is a family company of Smithfield Foods. Larry Pope, Smithfield chief executive stated recently that there is a possibility that Russian market may close to all U.S. pork eventually.